The present invention relates generally to a vehicle weight detection system, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a system for using On-Board Dash (OBD) data concurrently with a spring-mass-damper mechanical-based calculation to determine if a change in vehicle weight is greater than a threshold value in order to detect fraudulent or improper activity.
Conventional vehicle weight calculation systems are based on expensive, specialized sensors. These sensors may or may not have connectivity to other devices so as to alert changes in vehicle weight which may be the result of fraudulent or improper activity and need immediate alerts such illegal dumping activities, fuel theft, illegal taxi service pickups, etc.
Also, lack of location information with change in weight detection is an impediment in the conventional techniques for determining if the change in weight was for valid reasons (e.g. package pickup or delivery at an appropriate address). Furthermore, the wear on external sensors, especially in rough road conditions, leads to loss of data due to sensor replacement.
Other conventional techniques for vehicle weight detection detect changes in vehicle weight using physical weigh stations or axle-mounted sensors. Other techniques have considered tires with stress-strain gauges but this requires special tires and is costly. Also, the weight stations are impractical for detecting weight for a car-sharing service to monitor employees.